'Don't Frack Our Elections'

For Immediate Release

'Don't Frack Our Elections'

At Annual EQT Shareholder Meeting Shareholders, Good Government and Environmental Groups Proclaim: “Our Elections Are Not Another Site For Your Extraction”

WASHINGTON - WHAT: Environmental, public interest organizations, shareholders and citizens are holding a press conference outside the EQT annual shareholder meeting to call on the corporation to end the practice of spending corporate funds on elections. Clean Yield Investments has filed an official resolution to be voted on inside the meeting asking the corporation to assess the financial impact of refraining from political spending. EQT Corporation is one of the largest natural gas producers in the country, operating in Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Virginia and Kentucky.

EQT and the rest of the fracking industry spend millions on electoral politics at the state and federal level, elevating their interests and making it more difficult for ordinary citizens to have their voices heard. Concurrently, the industry exploits loopholes to pay extremely low taxes, receives thousands of permits to drill on public lands, and is exempted from many basic environmental standards. This coalition of concerned citizens is looking to put an end to the fracking industry’s exploitation of our elections and ultimate distortion of our democracy.

SPEAKERS:

Blair Bowie, Democracy Advocate, PennPIRG

Erika Staaf, Clean Water Advocate, PennEnvironment

Ritchie Tabacknick, Board Member, Keystone Progress; EQT Stockholder

Barry Kauffman, Executive Director, Common Cause PA

Eva Resnick-Day, recent graduate, University of Pittsburgh

John Pilecki, retired teacher; One Pittsburgh activist

WHEN: Wednesday, April 17th, 9:00 AM

WHERE: EQT Plaza, on the corner of Liberty between 6th and 7th, Pittsburgh, PA 15222

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U.S. PIRG, the federation of state Public Interest Research Groups (PIRGs), stands up to powerful special interests on behalf of the American public, working to win concrete results for our health and our well-being. With a strong network of researchers, advocates, organizers and students in state capitols across the country, we take on the special interests on issues, such as product safety,political corruption, prescription drugs and voting rights,where these interests stand in the way of reform and progress.

Further

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